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Introduction

Starting PXE Boot server - and using Symantec Ghost. General guidelines and installation procedure we used to initiate this process in our implementation department.

Steps
(4 total)

1

Initial

Found that using Linux as the boot media for Symantec Ghost alleviated the need to load drivers for every new machine:

>>>>Steps to set-up the Linux PXE Ghost Server<<<<

1. Install the current version of Edubuntu – with LTSP.
2. On initial install set the following settings to be manual on Eth1 so it will connect to the network properly and maintain the proper hostname:
Hostname:
IP Address:
Netmask:
Gateway:
DNS Servers:
Domain Lookup:

2

Step 2 - Server Configuration

Start the update/upgrade process by pressing Ctrl-Alt-T (Which will open a terminal window)
First set the root password by doing the following commands:
Type: sudo su –
Type: (This users password)
You should get a prompt that looks like this:

(See attached Photo)

Type: apt-get update
Then when it finishes updating you can type:
Apt-get upgrade
Answer yes by pushing y to do the upgrade when asked.

Use this prompt to install software:
The template for installing software is as follows:
Apt-get install
(Read all prompts and answer appropriately)
1. Install the following software – You can check the guide and see if there are specific instructions on loading, otherwise load using command line apt-get install, or through synaptic:
a. Synaptic
b. Samba
c. Cifs-utils
d. Webmin
e. Bind9
f. Testdisk
g. mc
h. nmap
i. chntpw
j. ddrescue
k. etherape
l. iptraf

These two packages are not available from the repositories and must be installed separately.

m. And upload the DD_RHELP Folder – and create a link for DD_RHELP in /usr/bin
n. Add the Ghost files – also install all files from the Ghost package in /usr/bin
2. Open a terminal and sudo updatedb
3. In the terminal type: locate memdisk
4. Copy the memdisk from syslinux to the following path: /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/
5. Create and copy an iso of the disc you want to load to the same directory as above, then add the labels as defined below.

3

Step 3 - Network and PXE Boot Configuration

You will need to point the DHCP Server to look for the path the ghost disc is looking for to the local machine – and set up a Samba share that is linked and shared on the local system:

The access is defined in the following path: /etc/fstab
This is an example of the file used to set-up this connection:
///e /media/samba cifs username=,password= 0 0
///images /media/samba2 cifs username=,password= 0 0
Or another alternate:
:E /media/samba cifs user=,pass= 0 0

Modifications to PXEBOOT server

1. Enabled local DNS server
a) apt-get install bind9
b) wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/webadmin/webmin_1.590_all.deb; dpkg -i webmin_1.590_all.deb
c) navigate to http://localhost:10000/ in web browser
i) Servers -> BIND DNS Server
ii) Click on Create master zone
iii) Domain Name:
Email address: doesn't matter, but has to be present - root@localhost.localdomain iv) Click Create
v) Click on the zone
vi) Navigate to Address records (A records)
vii) Create an A record for with the PXEBOOT server's IP for the PXE network (192.168.0.254)
viii) Save, Apply zone, and Apply Configuration
d) verify functionality by going to the command line on the PXEBOOT server and typing "nslookup . localhost" and verifying that the answer returned contains the proper IP
2. Modified DHCP server config to use local DNS server
a) Open /etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf
b) Modify the line for dns-name-server to reflect the IP of the PXEBOOT server - 192.168.0.254
c) Modify the line for domain-name to reflect the following - “”

i) verify using the 'mount' command and by navigating to /media/samba and verifying the contents
c) create a user account for Samba to use (Administrator)
i) useradd Administrator
ii) smbpasswd -a Administrator
iii) Enter the password stored in /etc/samba/credentials
Repeat the above for pxeghost
d) Modify /etc/samba/smb.conf to contain the following:

1. Go to the following path:
a. /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/pxelinux.cfg
2. Open the file – default (will need to be root to change it)
3. The original file will start up the terminal – you can add labels and customize this list – see examples below:

4. Make sure you do the following commands in the command line:
a. updatedb
b. Locate vesamenu.c32 (Once you know the location, you can copy this file using command line or nautilus) – Copy this file to /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/
5. You will also need to create a pxe.conf file in, /var/lib/tftpboot/ltsp/i386/
a. See the following example:

Please note the Puppy Linux version was customized, then a Puppy Live CD was made from that customized version – but some of the settings did not save – i.e. FSTAB settings and network/video settings – this is why the need to create that BASH file.

Conclusion

Just one way to streamline the enterprise imaging process.

References

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